Italian-style veggie soup

I'm finally winding down in the last few weeks of the last semester my Masters degree. The weather in Sydney this week has been unpredictable - hot sun then suddenly rain cooling down the rest of the day. And the weekend has unfortunately been mostly rainy (spoiled a day out on Manly beach), so as soon as I got home, decided a nice hearty, wholesome piping hot pot of soup was in order. Plus, I can easily picture someone's Nonna out there making this...


Italian-style veggie soup (updated)
Ingredients:
A handful of diced chicken breast
1 medium potato - diced
1 zucchini diced
1 red onion diced
3 cloves garlic - smashed
About 5cm of ginger - sliced thickly
1/2 red capsicum - diced
A handful of rice
1/2 can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon condensed chicken stock
2-4 cans water (to begin with, you can keep adding as it cooks to the consistency you want)
1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs
2 small bay leaves
Salt & pepper to season

Method:
1. Add a little oil in a pot and saute garlic, ginger and chicken till brown. Add in veggies and cook for a bit, before adding in water, uncooked rice, bay leaves, chicken stock.
2. Once veggies are slightly softened and rice half cooked, add in diced tomatoes and herbs. Taste and season with salt&pepper. Add in more water if necessary.
4. Leave to cook for about 30 minutes until the veggies are all soft.